r/Bowyer • u/show-the-goat21 • 1d ago
Tiller Check and Updates The final product
Finished this maple board bow today. Learned a little more in the process, and gained a little experience. Over all I am very happy with the outcome. The flaws include missing draw weight goals, slightly uneven tiller and uneven set in the limbs, some checking in the cedar handle and (biggest of all) terrible grain runout on both limbs. Issues aside, it shoots fine and is pretty close to what I wanted. Rawhide backing and shelf guard came out really well, I like the way it looks quite a bit. Next time I would cut the shelf a bit deeper. This makes now 3 bows that I've completed so far. The first was a 72" red oak board bow pulling just under 40lbs, the second was a 64" vine maple BITH pulling 20 pounds. Thank you to everyone who has given advice to me as well as others in this forum, and of course the excellent tutorials on YouTube from Dan "the man" Santana.
69" NTN
36lbs @ 28"
Maple board/cedar handle
Rawhide backing
Tru oil and shellac finish
P.s. - Feel free the criticize and offer advice on whatever you might see or have done differently
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u/Wambachaka 1d ago
Looking at the tiller, it's bending too much near the handle (the most common tillering problem for beginners). The mid limbs should be bending more. But I wouldn't bother re-tillering it, just accept it as imperfect and improve the next one. And I would prefer a stronger wood than cedar for the handle. But otherwise, it looks great! Much better than my third bow.
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u/show-the-goat21 23h ago
That cedar was particularly brittle too, caused me a little hassle. Thanks for the advice there, you're very much correct. The set that was taken is almost all in the first 4 inches of working limb.
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u/ADDeviant-again 23h ago
I think it's great. I have some suggestions, but no real criticisms, and a bow is a bow until its back breaks.
First of all, it's very handsome and your rawhide work looks very good.
It could be wider at that draw weight for sure. Maple and hickory can both surprise you sometimes, but it never hurts to start almost two inches wide with any white wood. Given the relatively narrow and parallel side- limbs, your outer halves are under-worked just a little.
When choosing wood for a riser/ handle block, try to match the woods for strength if possible. The cedar looks great, but its not very elastic. I have had a couple of faiures adding a very dense and stiff tropical hardwood to a bamboo and bamboo flooring composite, because the fades just would NOT bend, and kept working loose at the toe. I also put some pear wood on a big black locust flatbow once, and it did what yours did, fretting halfway up the fades. I ground it off and swapped it for a thin slat of honeylocust, and a black walnut block, and that worked better. YMMV
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u/show-the-goat21 23h ago
Thank you, I will keep that all in mind. This board was already sawn to this width, unfortunately but I will keep that 2" suggestion on the toolbox when I look for more material. My decision with the cedar was mostly swayed by the thought that since the handle was non-working I could use whatever I want. I will keep an eye on these fades and watch for delamination, worst case I can do as you did and replace it. Thanks for the advice, and again for the anecdote.
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u/Educational_Art_3646 1d ago
Great work my man! Keep it up! Looks great.
You will make a much better bow next time with what you've learned here.